NC USAR Task Force 8 Deploys to New Bern From Raleigh

This afternoon, Thursday, October 6, North Carolina Urban Search & Rescue (USAR) Task Force 8 deployed a Type II Water Rescue team to New Bern, NC, to be on standby for Hurricane Matthew.

The fourteen members and their four vehicles departed from the Raleigh Fire Department Keeter Training Center at 1:15 p.m. They deployed a two swift-water rescue units with boat trailers, a logistics and support unit, and a command vehicle.

NC USAR Task Force 8 is comprised of members from the Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill fire departments, and Wake County EMS. They’re one of seven task force teams in the state. See this DPS site for more information:

Story and photo credits from NC Task Force 8, via their Facebook page. Click to enlarge:

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Raleigh’s New Shop Truck

The Raleigh Fire Department recently received a new shop truck, a 2016 Ford F-450/Khapheide utility truck.

Designated Car 321, it’s used by Fleet Services for the on-call mechanic. It was placed in service on Wednesday, September 21.

It replaces a 2005 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 pick-up truck. And it supplements Car 320, which is the department’s “mobile shop,” a 2000 Freightliner FL60/American LaFrance/MedicMaster retired rescue truck.

Fleet Services is located at the department’s Support Services Center at 4120 New Bern Avenue.

Lee Wilson photos

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North Carolina Fallen Firefighters to be Honored at National Memorial Service – October 9, 2016

The 35th Annual National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Service will honor three firefighters from North Carolina who who died in the line of duty last year.

They are among the 79 firefighters who died in 2015, and 33 firefighters who died in previous years who will be remembered at the official national service at the National Fire Academy in Emmitsburg, MD, on Sunday, October 9.

  • Lt. Christopher J. Daniels, age 40, of the Pine Level VFD died after completing required physical fitness training on August 17, 2015.
  • Capt. James A. Hicks, age 44, of the NCANG Fire and Emergency Services died after he became ill while fighting a residential structure fire on July 27, 2015.
  • Lt. Carl C. Phillips, age 41, of the Locke Township Fire Department died of a heart attack several hours after he responded to a fatal motor vehicle accident on August 27, 2015.

Their names will be added to the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial on the Academy grounds. The national tribute is sponsored by the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation (NFFF) and the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Fire Administration.

Thousands are expected to attend the service, including families and friends of the fallen firefighters, members of Congress, Administration officials and other dignitaries. Families will receive flags flown over the U. S. Capitol and the National Memorial. Members of the fire service, honor guard units and pipe and drum units from across the country will participate in this national tribute.

View a complete list of fallen firefighters being honored. Or for a historical perspective, see Mike’s stories and database of NC fallen firefighters.

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Wake County Rural Fire Protection Progress Report – 1956 to 1957

From a report received around June 1, 1957, and probably covering the prior fiscal year.

Rural fire departments established in ten communities in Wake County:

  • Zebulon
  • Apex
  • Cary
  • Garner
  • Fuquay-Varina
  • Morrisville
  • Knightdale
  • Wake Forest
  • Six Forks
  • Wendell.

Others are in the process of organizing, and some are about ready to begin purchasing equipment. These departments have 242 volunteer members and “are rendering the people of the county a service that cannot be estimated in dollars and cents.”

Summary of calls of the nine departments that have been operating the longest (all of the above, except Wendell):

  • 241 fires fought
  • 20 industrial and business buildings
  • 62 dwellings and outhouses
  • 44 grass and woods fires
  • 44 autos and trucks
  • 15 tobacco barns
  • 65 other types of fires.

Value of property:

  • $223,010 worth of property destroyed
  • $350,500 worth of property that was on fire, and saved
  • $549,200 worth of property that was adjacent, and would have burned

One life saved. Plus a “large variety of community services” also performed by “these men.”

Source: Resolution adopted by Wake County Commissioners on June 3, 1957, and as presented to Col. David L. Hardee, director of Organizations For Civil Defense in Raleigh.

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Mapping the Original Locations of the Six Forks Fire Department

Diagram of the first original locations of the Six Forks Fire Department. They were organized in 1956, and incorporated on June 5. 

Their first fire engine was a 1956 Ford/American/Barton pumper housed in a converted barn behind Howell’s Store at 4129 Six Forks Road. The structure was begin used as such by September 1956.

Their second fire station was a tin structure in the 4400 block of Six Forks Road, about mid-block. It housed the 1956 pumper and a military surplus 6×6 tanker. The fire station was erected by March 1959.

Read more about the history of the Six Forks Fire Department.

Below is a modern GIS map and a March 1959 aerial photo. The GIS map is annotated based on the aerial photo.

The aerial photo is cropped from a larger version that was annotated by Ron Jones on the Facebook group You knew you grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina, when…

Click once or twice to enlarge.

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Wake County Fire History – Closures & Mergers

For your Sunday evening enjoyment, here’s a grab bag of historical bits, about fire station closures and fire department mergers in Raleigh and Wake County.

There have been but a handful of note.

Closures

(Not counting station re-locations within 2.5 miles)

  • 1960 – Western Boulevard FD
  • 1982 – Wake Forest FD #2
  • ca. 1992 – Durham Highway FD – Station 1 on Davis Drive
  • 1993 – Raleigh FD – Station 4 on Wake Forest Road
  • 2008 – Western Wake FD – Station 2 on Chapel Hill Road, old Yrac FD

Mergers

(Not counting rural department mergers with their respective municipalities, or vice versa)

  • 2002 – Six Forks FD > Bay Leaf FD
  • 2013 – Falls FD > Wake Forest FD

The document pulls heavily from the 2004 TriData study and Wake County Fire Commission minutes over the years.

Take a look, see what you think, and what ways the document could be made better. Such as, perhaps, splitting closures and mergers into separate sections.

View the history page.

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The First Meeting of the Wake County Fire Commission – November 24, 1998

Digging through the early years of the Wake County Fire Commission this morning. They were created as an advisory board in 1998, as a recommendation of a 1994 fire service study, and supplanted the Wake Council Fire Chief’s Council, which previously served that role.

They discussed such things as:

  • Meeting dates, time, and location.
  • Role of the commission.
  • Contract and contracts.
  • Personnel retention and recruitment programs.
  • ISO and consultant reports.
  • Appointed subcommittees for Capital Improvement Projects, Budget Review, Contract and Performance Requirements, and Planning.
  • The planned 800MHz radio system.
  • Current priority issues of the commission.
  • Funding distribution/service district budget development.

Read the entire minutes of that first meeting by drilling down into www.legeros.com/ralwake/docs/wcfc.

I’ve conveniently downloaded as both individual and compiled files from the official site.

Who’s Who

Present and accounted for were these familiar names:

  • Blaine Parks, Citizen/Consumer (Alternate) Mitchell, South Region/Primary [GFD]
  • Rodney Privette, East Region/Alternate [RRFD]
  • George Mills, North Region/Primary [BLFD]
  • Ned Perry, Citizen/Consumer [Retired CFD]
  • Bonnie Woodruff, Citizen/Consumer
  • Bill Stevenson, President of Firemen’s Association
  • Cloyce Anders, External Facilitator (Non-voting)
  • Ray Echevarria, Interim Director-Fire/Rescue Division
  • Ed Brinson, West Region/Primary [SCFD]
  • Max Ashworth, Citizen/Consumer
  • Tom Vaughan, East Region/Primary [WFD]
  • Chuck Sannipoli, Citizen/Consumer
  • Tony Chiotakis, West Region/Alternate [MFD]
  • A. C. Rich, North Region/Alternate [SHFD]

Absent were:

  • Ken Farmer, South Region/Alternate [FVFD]
  • Nancy Schwarm, Citizen/Consumer

Recognized were:

  • David Cooke, Deputy County Manager
  • Tim Lanier, Interim Public Safety Director
  • Chris Perry, Shift Supervisor-Fire/Rescue Division
  • Sherry Scoggins, Executive Secretary

More History

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Vintage Magazine Ad with Kenly’s 1944 Ford/Oren

Found for sale on eBay, vintage magazine advertisement showing 1944 Ford/Oren pumper. Built by the Oren Fire Apparatus Company of Roanoke, VA. Click to enlarge:

The truck was the second fire engine operated by the Johnston County town. It later served the Brookville (?) Fire Department, and was later privately owned in Iowa. It was returned to Kenly in November 2012. Here’s a Legeros Fire Blog Archives posting from 2013 about the truck.


Lee Wilson photo

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Vintage Photos of Durham Engine 4, Engine 6

Found for sale on eBay, two 35mm slide scans. (One is darker due to underexposure during scanning, most likely.) Original photographer credit unknown.

Left is old Engine 4, a 1997 E-One Cyclone II, 1250/500. Right is old Engine 6, a 1990 Duplex D-500/E-One, 1250/500. Readers can check/correct my data.

Here’s a Legeros Blog Fire Archives posting with a first-stab at a DFD fleet listing, from 2014.

Click to slightly enlarge:

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Warrenton Fire Department’s 60th Anniversary Ball – Saturday, October 22

News from our friends to the north.

Commemorating six decades of service to the Town of Warrenton, the Central Warren Fire District, and surrounding communities, the Warrenton Rural Volunteer Fire Department is hosting a formal Firefighters Ball on Saturday, October 22, 2016, from 7:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. at Warren County Armory Civic Center, 501 US 158 Business Highway, Warrenton, NC.

The Firefighters Ball is open to the public and all firefighters, both local and from a far. Or a fire! Dress blues, kilts, and evening gowns are appropriate for this event. Departments are encouraged to bring their antique fire apparatus.

Music will be provided by The Central Park Band. An open bar and complementary heavy hors d oeuvres will be provided. Advance tickets are $50 per person. Tickets are available from any WRFD member. Here’s a Facebook page about the event.

For more information, contact Captain John W. Franks, jwmfranks@aol.com, (252) 820-0513.

History of Warrenton Rural VFD

Warrenton Rural Volunteer Fire Department began service with a home-made tanker converted from an old 1946(?) Chevrolet surplus school bus. The tanker had a 1,000 gallon unbaffled tank and a converted pump that ran off pulleys & belts connected to a PTO. Fire hoses connected to the pump ran out the side door. The truck was designated as  No. 1  and affectionately dubbed  The Ugly Duckling.


Warren Record photo

The department s first call was a house fire on Wednesday, April 20, 1956, around 11:30 pm, at a farm about three miles south of Warrenton. Upon their arrival they found a burning house on the ground, two outbuildings on fire, and a grass and woods fire threatening a tobacco barn. No. 1 and five firefighters responded and extinguished the flames.

In its early years Warrenton Rural continued to acquire surplus vehicles and through many hours of labor its firemen continued to convert them into fire apparatus.


Warren Record photo

Because there were only two other fire departments in Warren County in 1956 (i.e., Town of Warrenton FD and Town of Norlina FD), Warrenton Rural made a long-range plan to set up auxiliary fire companies in outlying areas of Warren County to decrease response times.

As local communities came together to build stations for the auxiliary fire companies and to supply men to staff the stations, Warrenton Rural provided them with fire trucks.


Warren Record

Over the next decade, Warrenton Rural VFD organized auxiliary fire companies in the communities of Inez (1957), Arcola (1958), Afton-Elberon (1962), Drewry (1963), Wise (1965), and Macon (1969). All of these auxiliary companies later became their own fire departments. And all but Drewry VFD provide automatic mutual aid to Warrenton VFD.

In 2004, the Town of Warrenton Fire Department merged with the Warrenton Rural Volunteer Fire Department. The town fire department was staffed by black firefighters. It was organized in 1868 as the Plummer Hook & Ladder Company and was North Carolina s oldest all-black volunteer fire company.

[Here’s some history on the town’s black fire department, from the research compiled by the late Chuck Milligan.]

Today, Warrenton Rural VFD remains an all-volunteer fire department that runs three engines, one aerial platform, one rescue truck, one brush truck, and one utility/first responder truck. They have an ISO rating of 4 for the town fire district and a 6/9E rating for the Central Warren rural district, which they received in 2014.


John W. Franks photo

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